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HE GRABBED A STRANGER IN THE DESERT, NEVER REALIZING WHO WAS WATCHING HIM

Chapter 3

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Daniel paused, fighting to control his breathing.“I was not there when the operation began. I was serving with a different unit. But I arrived after the first distress signal and helped the surviving soldiers get out.”The old man's eyes searched his face.“Was Michael still alive?”Daniel nodded slowly.“When I found him, he was badly wounded. He was lying beside a damaged vehicle, trying to keep pressure on another soldier's injury.”A tear slid down Daniel's cheek.“He was still giving orders. Still telling everyone else what to do. Even then, he was worried about the men around him instead of himself.”The elderly man pressed his hand against his chest.“What did he say?”Daniel looked directly into his eyes.“He asked me to make sure the others got home.”His voice broke.“Then he asked me to look after you.”The old man covered his face.Daniel continued, each word becoming harder to speak.“He knew he wasn't going to survive. He understood it before I did. He made me promise that I would find you if anything happened to him.”The elderly man shook with silent sobs.“I never knew,” he whispered. “I never knew any of this.”“I tried to find you,” Daniel said. “But the official records were sealed. There were investigations, transfers, and orders I didn't understand. Every time I thought I was getting closer, another door closed.”He looked down at the tag in his hand.“Then I was injured during another operation. I spent months recovering. By the time I was able to return to the investigation, the people who had handled Michael's case had been reassigned.”Daniel looked ashamed.“I should have kept trying.”The old man wiped his eyes.“Why didn't you?”It was not an accusation.That made it worse.Daniel stared at the ground.“Because I was afraid.”The elderly man said nothing.“I was afraid that I would discover something terrible. I was afraid that Michael had died because of a decision I made. I was afraid that I would find you and have to explain why I had survived when he hadn't.”He looked up.“And I was afraid that you would blame me.”The old man remained silent for several seconds.Then he asked, “Did you blame yourself?”Daniel gave a small, bitter smile.“Every day.”The elderly man took a step forward.For the first time, he looked closely at Daniel rather than searching his face for the features of someone else.He noticed the faint scar near Daniel's eyebrow. The tiredness around his eyes. The way his shoulders remained tense even when he stood still.And then he noticed something else.Daniel was wearing an old watch.A simple, scratched watch with a dark leather strap.The elderly man's breath caught.“Where did you get that?”Daniel glanced at his wrist.“This?”“Take it off.”Daniel hesitated, then removed the watch and held it out.The old man took it with shaking fingers.He turned it over.On the back, almost hidden beneath years of scratches, were two engraved letters.M.C.The elderly man closed his eyes.He knew that watch.He had bought it for Michael on his eighteenth birthday.He remembered the afternoon clearly. Michael had laughed at the inexpensive gift and insisted that he would keep it forever.“You'll lose it within a month,” his father had joked.Michael had smiled.“Not this one, Dad. This one means something.”The elderly man opened his eyes and looked at Daniel.“You kept it.”Daniel nodded.“He asked me to.”The old man clutched the watch against his chest.For a moment, the anger that had carried him through twelve years seemed to drain away, leaving only exhaustion and grief.Then he looked at Daniel again.“Why are you here?”Daniel's expression hardened.“Because the investigation has been reopened.”The old man's head lifted.“What investigation?”“The operation that killed Michael. New documents were discovered during an internal review. Some of the information used to plan the mission was incorrect, and the errors may not have been accidental.”The elderly man stared at him.“You mean someone sent my son into danger knowing what would happen?”“I don't know that yet,” Daniel replied. “But I intend to find out.”“Who?”Daniel looked toward the military vehicles.“There are people who don't want those records examined.”The officer beside them shifted uneasily.Daniel noticed.The old man noticed too.“What aren't you telling me?” he asked.Daniel lowered his voice.“Michael reported irregularities before the operation. He believed that someone had been altering mission information and concealing mistakes that put soldiers at risk.”The elderly man's face changed.“He knew?”“He suspected something was wrong. He submitted a report, but it disappeared from the official file.”“Who took it?”“We're still investigating.”The old man looked toward the distant horizon.
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HE GRABBED A STRANGER IN THE DESERT, NEVER REALIZING WHO WAS WATCHING HIM

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